Blogging away...

Getting ready to head to Paradise! Tattoo Gathering, that is.

October 13, 2016

So it looks like we're mid-prep for this year's exciting Paradise Tattoo Gathering, at the beautiful Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, Massachusetts. There is a mind-blowing array of talent scheduled to tattoo and teach at the convention, and a lot of event-exclusive activities and seminars that any artist would give his or her eyeteeth to experience. Aptly described as "4 Days of Inspiration, Learning, Tattooing and Art Creation", you can attend workshops taught by my brother Guy, or my friends Bob Tyrrell, Markus Lenhard, and Jeff Gogue, among others. Oh, and did I mention I'll be teaching there, as well? This is a great opportunity for artists of all stripes - tattoo artist or not! - to add to your skill arsenal, while having a splendid time in the beautiful mountains. And let's not forget the amazing adventure park options the resort has, too.

Hopefully some of you will be able to join us! And stay tuned for a full report upon our return!

Travel & Leisure Loves Pittsburgh and Curiosity Shop!

October 13, 2016

We were incredibly happy to be included in the October issue of Travel & Leisuremagazine, where the editors chose to talk about a variety of interesting (read: COOL!) new travel destinations, including Pittsburgh! Scott ran into the author of the article, Jody Rosen, while parking our 1948 Ford F1 truck, Barney - and of course, the truck is always a great conversation starter. Jody was excited to explore the Ice House Studios, the artistic studio and office collective that houses the Curiosity Shop. It was great to see some of our friends and neighbors also featured in the piece, and we hope you get a chance to pick up a copy at your newsstand, or just check out the online feature (click here!), which lists us as one of the cool things to do while you're in town! Hey, we've always thought so -- it's just great to have confirmation in print. Thanks, Jody, for such a terrific article!

Look for the cover at your local book store - hey, we're right up there with Sonoma, Australia, Korea and Nepal!

$50 NEW YEAR'S BABIES, YO!

Well, now that everyone has survived their duly designated December holidays, we at Curiosity Shop want to celebrate with you by giving you a permanent reminder of the transition to 2016. So please - join us on Saturday, January 2nd, 2016 (we figure by then everyone's headaches will have gone bye-bye) from 10 am til 10 pm and git yerself one of our ever-so-festive (and slightly badass) New Year's Babies for a mere 50 bucks! There will be close to 2 dozen designs available to choose from so there should be something to appeal to the most (or least) discerning tastes. Check out the flier below for full details and disclosure. First come, first served - we'll be excited to see you there!

December 30, 2015

A quick snap of the piece we did together, a modified version of a beautiful drawing her daughter did when she was 12. Having seen more of her work, I can tell you this much - this young lady has a definite future in the art world, should she so choose.

Last year, I had the delightful privilege of tattooing the wonderful Eva LaFlamme, blogstress, tattoo collector extraordinaire and the author of the wonderfully witty and bitingly on-point Tattoo Tourist blog. Now that this site is more or less a part of the official e-ther, I wanted to take a moment to revisit her terrific (and, ahem, very flattering) post about her visit to Pittsburgh and her tattoo experience.

Her most recent post is a spot-on, and hysterical, cautionary lexicon of tattoo healing pitfalls that had me in stitches. Here's the link to her original Curiosity Shop post, but when you're done reading, check out her more recent offerings, including How To Piss Off Your Tattoo Artist (something I'm sure none of YOU would ever do, ahem) and a profile on my wonderful and awe-inspiring friend, Jeff Gogue.

THE NEW PHONE BOOK'S HERE! THE NEW PHONE BOOK'S HERE!

...or should I say, THE DARN WEB PAGE IS FINALLY UP AND RUNNING!!!!!

Following many painful months (and crushing design failures) the new page is finally ready for road testing. Please let me know how it's working (or isn't) and any suggestions you might have as far as content, features, or anything that isn't quite working correctly.

As many of you all know, I moved to Pittsburgh in December of 2013 and have been busy building a new studio in the heart of Lawrenceville. Sometime very soon, the wonderful Scott White will once again be returning to the gentle art of tattooing and will be joining me in the shop as well.

Anyone who's interested in work from either of us should please feel free to send us a project request! We'd love to hear your ideas and come up with something wonderful and truly one of a kind for you.

Thanks so much for your patience, everyone, while we got this site together! Every day I feel more and more like I need a 12 year old kid around to teach me how to do this stuff. Dang.

Looking forward to seeing you in Pittsburgh!

- Hannah

March 26, 2015!!!

New Mexico, I miss ya already....or Hannah and Scott in Paradise! (Paradise Artist Retreat, that is).

Took a while to get this up and going, but in late March, we spent an absolutely wonderful week at the gorgeous Tamaya Resort in New Mexico with friends, family and fellow artists at the Paradise Artist's Retreat. I had the pleasure of being included in this terrific event a couple of years ago, and taught a quick n' dirty figure drawing workshop which was a lot of fun. The event includes over a dozen hands-on workshops with incredible tattoo and fine artists, each designed to help us to further develop our creative arsenal while having a wonderful time in the desert: http://www.paradiseartistretreat.com/

I had the rare, and always too brief, opportunity to spend time with my brother, Guy, sister-in-law Michele and niece Kaia Rose, as well as too many friends to list. It includes all of the fun aspects I love about tattoo conventions, minus the tattooing (or crowds) - just sheer focus on creativity, relaxation and the chance to recharge your imagination. What a wonderful week.

We also got to sit in on the world premiere viewing of the much-anticipated Chet Zar documentary, helmed by filmmaker Mike Correll: http://iliketopaintmonsters.com/

Being a massive fan of Chet's work (and Chet himself), I was impressed with how this film manages to capture the gentle humanity, as well as the darkness and complexity, behind the monsters he conceives, as well as the process he's experienced artistically and experientially in order to create them. If you get a chance to check out the film, I heartily recommend it.

Chet also taught a great interactive oil painting workshop, highlighting his techniques for developing a monster of your own. I gave it a shot, and while it may be a minute before Scott or I attempt another oil painting (this was my first time! Yoiks!) it was nevertheless a ton of fun and I felt like we learned a great deal that we'll be able to use down the road.

Another great highlight was, naturally, my brother Guy's interactive painting workshop. Anyone who is at all familiar with Guy's work knows the emphasis he places on light and texture, and this workshop was designed to further hone our painting skills in these areas. Since this isn't the kind of work I typically focus on, I had a great time with Scott, drinking way too much bourbon and working on paintings of highly textured lizard eyes into the wee hours. It was a blast., although needless to say one that I felt a wee bit the next morning....

If you don't already subscribe to his updates, this is my chance to shamelessly shill my brother and Michele's wonderful site and encourage you to CHECK IT OUT, DAMMIT! http://www.hyperspacestudios.com/

Hannah in France - Avignon 2015

Many thanks to SylTattoo for posting this terrific little video about Hannah's live workshop in beautiful Avignon, France in January 2015! Note to self: next time, the gum stays home.

More fun in Avignon. Thanks so much to my dear friends Stephane and Cecile Chaudesaigues for their wonderful hospitality. Please ignore the somewhat painful expression I have on my face at this exact moment. Not quite sure how that happened, there...

Off the Map Live, June 2014 -

Hannah talks about moving to Pittsburgh, and that pesky work/life balance thing.

You should subscribe to this terrific YouTube channel! Off the Map LIVE offers awesome live demos, q&a sessions and seminars with your favorite tattoo artists. Good stuff!

Another blast from the past...this nifty little post from my friends at Sailor Jerry. I was incredibly flattered to be included in their Hold Fast series. Thanks again, guys, for such a terrific video!